


A Little More Change

by Nanenna



Series: A Little Series [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aftertale Sans (Undertale) - Freeform, Aftertale Sans/Aftertale Sans/Reapertale Sans (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Aftertale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Reapertale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Twins, Established Relationship, EverAfterDeath (Undertale Ship), Fluff and Humor, Multi, Multiverse Travel, Permanent Injury, Reapertale Papyrus (Undertale), Reapertale Sans (Undertale), Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24012385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanenna/pseuds/Nanenna
Summary: In the wake of a huge, life changing event for our boys there's only more changes to come. It's going to be a little while until they can all get settled into a new norm, but Reaper wouldn't have it any other way.
Relationships: Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Series: A Little Series [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610887
Comments: 51
Kudos: 73





	1. Finding Your Feet Again

When Cider and Geno woke they were both famished. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to eat in the Death brothers’ kitchen, but there was plenty still sitting around in the Save Screen kitchen. It only took three trips to grab enough to sate Reaper’s two very hungry datemates (two datemates!♥ He was still excited about that). He wasn’t even sure they were actually full, they both kept falling face first into their plates so Reaper moved them both back to bed and tucked them in. It was adorable how they curled up around each other, his cute little kittens. His!♥

But the pressure of too many dead Souls calling out to him was getting to be too much. For all that he’d rather crawl back into bed with his darlings he had a job to do that wouldn’t let him ignore it. Reluctantly Reaper went downstairs, he should at least move the dirty dishes to the sink, right? It wasn’t procrastination if it was productive!

Respite was standing in the kitchen, hands on hips as he glared down at the dirty dishes and crumbs scattered over the table. “REALLY NOW!”

“hey bro, sorry about the mess. seems healing makes mortals both tired and really hungry.”

Respite sighed, “WELL IF THAT’S WHAT IT IS LIKE FOR MORTALS THEN I SUPPOSE THERE’S NOTHING TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. ASIDE FROM CLEANING THIS UP, OF COURSE.”

“yeah, guess so.”

Respite made the most outraged, scandalized noise when Reaper dumped the whole pile of plates into the sink. It was kind of funny watching him angrily pull them out and set them aside so he could fill the sink with water. Reaper just scooted the trash can over and half heartedly swept the crumbs in. A lot missed and ended up on the floor but eh… someone would sweep the floor sooner or later.

“THERE’S EVEN STILL PERFECTLY EDIBLE FOOD ON THIS PLATE,” Respite grumbled as he stole the trash can to drop said perfectly edible food into.

“hey bro, what’d you do with my datemates’ ♥ clothes?”

“I THREW THEM OUT.”

“you what?”

“SA- REAPER! THERE WAS A GIANT, RAGGED CUT ACROSS THEM THAT HAD YOUR DATEMATES’ MANA SOAKED INTO THEM.”

“bro, those were their only clothes!”

“WELL, YOU SHOULD FIX THAT.”

“… huh, i can do that, can’t i?”

Respite sighed and rolled his eyes, “YES, YOU MOST CERTAINLY CAN.”

“did you at least save their shorts? those didn’t have cuts and are black so any possible stains won’t show. and cider doesn’t have any pants right now, so unless you want him to wander around the house pantsless until i get back…”

“YES, I SAVED THEIR SHORTS. THEY’RE IN THE WASH AND WILL BE DONE SHORTLY.”

Reaper snickered.

Respite gave him the side eye, “NOW GO GET YOUR DATEMATES SOME PROPER CLOTHES.”

“ok.” Reaper paused, then cleared his throat, “i might be a while. work, you know.”

“I DO NEED TO GO DOWN INTO THE UNDERWORLD SOON, IT’S GOTTEN A BIT ROWDY DOWN THERE.”

“yeah, so i might be a while. oh!” Reaper quickly popped back into the Save Screen, gathered up what little food was left, then shortcut back to dump it on the kitchen table. It was monster food, it’d be fine. “there, in case my ⁺✩*•̩̩͙♥•̩̩͙*˚datemates˚*•̩̩͙♥•̩̩͙*˚✩⁺ are hungry when they wake up.”

“THAT’S VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU.”

“heh, thanks.”

* * *

“so i was able to shortcut to the save screen, back to the bathroom, over to life’s garden, then back here,” Geno said as he collapsed on the couch.

Cider reappeared at Reaper’s side, “got to life’s garden, the save screen, back to life’s garden, the bedroom, then down here.”

Reaper nodded, “okay, life’s garden is part of this universe, and the save screen is its own weird thing. we can figure out if you guys can get to other universes when we go on our first shopping trip.♥”

They both groaned, Cider flopped down onto the couch next to Geno. “we just did sooooooooo much work, do we haaaaaaaaave to go shopping right now?” he whined. They were both wearing Reaper’s clothes again. Rather than buying his datemates clothes, he’d decided to just expand his own wardrobe. Reaper now had several outfits of “not work clothes” that were mostly soft shirts and comfy sweatpants, all a bit comfortably loose on Reaper. Geno and Cider looked adorable in them, especially with the sleeves and pant legs rolled up. But he had at least gotten them replacement slippers.

“no,” Reaper replied, “but we will have to go soon.” He sat down between his datemates and pulled them both close to cuddle. “we can go anywhere in the whole multiverse.♥ we can go to any tale or swapverse if you want someplace small and familiar, or we can go to a universe on the surface where they have huge stores full of more options than you can imagine, there are even some that cater just to skeletons. oh! i bet you guys would love outertale.♥ though i’m not sure how you’d feel about their fashion.”

“maybe not a big shop,” Geno said quietly.

“yeah, that doesn’t sound like the best idea,” Cider added.

“i’m not surprised. for now how about i show you two around here?”

“what? around the house? we’ve seen the whole house.”

“it’s just like our house back in uh… our home universe? birth universe?”

“it’s just like most skeleton houses in most universes,” Reaper said. “but have you been outside? it’s not snowdin out there.♥”

“we’ve seen out the window, it’s just a bunch of dead trees.”

“it’s like the outside of asgore’s house in the underground, only less leaves on the ground and more weird twig trees.”

“yes, but there’s more to it than that. i should at least show you the entrance and the border.”

“the entrance and border… to what?”

“the underworld.” Reaper stood and held his hands out, “c’mon, it’s not far.”

The twins took his hands and Reaper helped them up. They walked outside and down the little stone path that took them from the front door through the dead forest. The path was necessary too, even if it was all dead the undergrowth was thick and thorny. A stray breeze blew dead, crunchy leaves cross their path and rustled the empty branches overhead. After a short walk the stones of the path petered out until it was just a thin path of packed dirt that joined up with a hard dirt road bordered by trees dripping brightly colored leaves. Reaper stopped near the edge.

“that’s the entrance,” Reaper said as he pointed towards a rocky area with what was little more than a hole in the uneven ground, a few twisted, dead trees dotted around it. The road led right to the hole, slanting down as it met the hole and disappeared into its depths.

“oh my god,” Geno gasped, “THAT’S the entrance to the UNDERWORLD?!”

“you mean like the actual AFTERLIFE?!”

“yup. it’s uh… generally not a good idea for mortals to go there, it mucks everything up. so please don’t.”

“yeah no, no thanks.”

They both shook their heads and clung to his arms.

“that’s a relief, most mortals are pretty curious even if they don’t have someone they’re trying to go find. the other thing i wanted to show you was the border.” Reaper pointed in the opposite direction, where the leaves went from red to yellow to a lush green. “as the entrance to the underworld this whole area is a liminal space. behind us is part of the godly realm, and that over there is the mortal realm.”

“aren’t uh… aren’t all the mortals in your universe human?” Cider asked nervously.

“yup,” Reaper replied. “and sometimes they get impatient and go trying to hunt up a recently deceased loved one so they’ll wander down there.”

“and there’s a path straight to your front door from here?!”

“don’t worry, this is the border of the godly realm, it’s hidden from mortal sight. that uh… that probably includes you two so don’t leave the path or you might never find it again.”

“don’t ever come out here again, ok, got it.”

“no kidding, can we not be here anymore?”

Reaper shortcut them directly into the living room. They both breathed a sigh of relief and flopped onto the couch. Reaper shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from wringing them anxiously, “was that too much? i just wanted to make sure you two know where you can and can’t go.”

“so sometimes you’ll just see a random human walking by?” Geno asked.

“well… yeah.” Reaper motioned to the living room around them, “we picked this spot because it’s a good vantage point for the cave.”

“ugh! how often do they do that?”

“pretty often, we’ll get one or two every few decades.”

“wait, decades?”

“that’s not so bad then.”

“you said they can’t see the house, right? they don’t even know to look for it?”

“not even a little,” Reaper said, a bit confused. He understood them being wary of humans considering what one very Determined human **child** was capable of (amazing what a universal constant that was), but decades were terribly short. Shouldn’t they be upset just how often humans wandered by?

“so even if one went hunting for the entrance every day they still wouldn’t come here?”

“every day?!” Reaper sputtered. What a horrifying thought!

“anything else we should know about?”

“as part of the godly realm the forest connects to the rest of the gods eventually, all except life and her hidden garden. so if you go far enough, like you can’t see the house anymore, you’ll probably run into other gods.”

“that’s good to know.”

“i wouldn’t worry about it too hard, if you can shortcut to life’s garden you can get back here just fine on your own, and most gods are very polite.”

“anything else?”

Reaper shook his head, “nothing else. though if i think of anything i’ll let you know.”

“ok.” Geno patted the couch between him and Cider, “come chill with us for a bit.”

“yeah, it’s already been a long afternoon, perfect time for,” Cider was interrupted by a yawn, “time for a nap.”

Reaper grinned as he sat down between them again, pulling each twin snug under an arm. “go ahead and take that nap, i have plans to keep you two up all night long.♥”

* * *

The three of them must have made a strange sight setting up a picnic on the roof like this. But the brothers Death had no neighbors, no one to stare at them and shake their heads as Reaper and his two (two!♥) datemates shortcut back and forth between the house and the roof with an increasingly elaborate pile of things. A familiar red checkered blanket was laid down, a variety of snacks and drinks, a pile of pillows both on the blankets and to prop up said snacks and drinks against the roof’s incline. The show was already starting by the time they sat sprawling out, but that was alright, there would be plenty more in the future.

“so how are you two enjoying your first sunset?♥”

“eh, i wouldn’t call it my first,” Geno said as he refused to take his eye off the colorful western sky.

“how?” Reaper asked in confusion, “you were trapped underground.”

“the kid liked to break the barrier sometimes, i think they got some sort of sick kick out of getting everyone out just to put them back under the mountain when they reset. anyway, for some reason it’s always sunset when the barrier breaks, you can see it through the window.”

Reaper scoffed, “watching through a window is not the same.”

“it’s really not,” Geno breathed.

“look at those clouds,” Cider spoke up for the first time, pointing high in the sky where some clouds were painted rosy pink against a darkening purplish sky, deep blue shadows already in stark contrast on the far side of the clouds.

There wasn’t much talking as the evening wore into night. The two were so entranced by watching the last rays of the sun slowly fade over the distant mountains that neither thought to look up until Reaper said, “hey, look up.♥”

They did. The sky wasn’t completely dark yet, but the brightest of the stars were already out and shimmering in the sky. Geno and Cider looked up with open mouth wonder, not even remembering they could lay back and save their poor necks the strain until Reaper pulled them down.

Cider was the first to speak, pointing up, “look! is that… is that ursa major?”

“i think so,” Geno confirmed. “and if you use the last two stars as a guide they’re supposed to point you right to polaris.”

Reaper smiled, more distracted by his datemates than the glittering stars above them. He lay there with his skull cushioned on pillows, watching his two datemates laying next to each other, pointing out stars and constellations, spouting off facts and trivia they both surely knew the other already knew. He wouldn’t give this up for anything.


	2. This House is Going Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the four members of the household have had a chance to settle a little, they all sit down to discuss how things are going to work now.

They had pushed the walls until Reaper’s (and Geno’s♥ and Cider’s♥) room was bigger on the inside, big enough to fit Reaper’s wardrobe and dresser, filled with his new “casual” wardrobe so his datemates could wear “boyfriend clothing” for now. But that was only a stopgap measure at best.

“WE NEED A BIGGER HOUSE,” Respite said firmly once all four of them were able to sit down and discuss it. “SIMPLY MAKING THE ROOMS BIGGER ISN’T GOING TO WORK, WE NEED MORE ROOMS.”

There were nods and general sounds of agreement from the trio. It’s easy to manipulate space in an existing room, less so to find a different room and make a space to jam it in. And even then they still need a preexisting room to do that.

“so we need to go house hunting?” Cider asked.

“HOUSE HUNTING? MY DEAR LITTLE MORTAL,” Respite said as if about to reluctantly tell a small child the tooth fairy isn’t real, “A HOUSE IS NOT A CREATURE YOU GO OUT INTO THE FOREST AND HUNT DOWN WITH A SPEAR.”

“i uh… that’s not… huh.”

“what do gods do when they need a bigger house?” Geno cut in while Cider’s thought processes were stalled.

“CONTACT THE GOD OF CONSTRUCTION, OF COURSE.”

“oh, ok.”

“makes sense.”

“connie, right?” Reaper asked. “when’s she coming over?”

“SO WE’RE ALL IN AGREEMENT ON RENOVATING THE HOUSE?”

The trio all made various sounds of agreement. “c’mon, bro, it’s a good idea. why wouldn’t we agree?”

“OF COURSE IT IS! I’LL TAKE CARE OF IT THEN, HEAVENS KNOW IF WE LEFT IT TO YOU YOU’D DRAG YOUR FEET AND IT’D NEVER HAPPEN.”

Reaper’s only response was a shrug and a grin.

* * *

“GENO, CIDER, I’D LIKE YOU TO MEET CONNIE. CONNIE, THESE ARE REAPER’S NEW DATEMATES.”

“Hello!” Connie, a plump beaver who was actually a little shorter than the twins, held out a hand to shake. “It’s very nice to meet both of you.”

“so you’re the god of construction?” Geno asked as he shook her hand.

“Oh I wish! Ha ha, no, I’m just a minor construction god.”

“A VERY GOOD ONE! SHE BUILT OUR HOUSE.”

“Yeah, that’s all I ever build. Houses, garages, retaining walls, and the occasional shed.”

“AND THEY’RE ALL EXCELLENT HOUSES, GARAGES, WALLS, AND SHEDS. SO, SHALL WE GET STARTED?”

“Certainly,” Connie pulled some rolled up papers from her inventory, “I still have the plans from when this one was built.” The whole group moved over to the kitchen table, where Connie spread the papers out and various spice jars were used to hold down the corners.

“WE ALREADY MADE REAPER’S BEDROOM BIGGER, BUT WE WERE THINKING IT WOULD BE NICE TO ADD A BATHROOM,” Respite tapped one of the papers as he spoke. “WE ALSO SUDDENLY HAVE AN EXCESS OF FURNITURE, REAPER JUST WANTS TO TOSS IT BUT I THINK IT MIGHT BE NICE TO HAVE A SPARE ROOM.”

“It might be easier to just use Reaper’s current room as the spare and build a whole new room on.” Connie pulled out a few very thin pieces of paper and laid them over the plans, then started drawing on one in pencil. “A room big enough for three, do you want a walk-in closet? No? No closet at all? I like your style.”

Connie continued on like that, asking questions as she sketched and made notes. Once she had the bedroom and attached bathroom (it was going to be huge! Just as Reaper’s datemates deserved♥) figured out, she moved over to the paper with the ground floor’s layout on it. “So I’m assuming you don’t want this extra room just jutting out of the second floor all willy nilly. What do you want under it? Porch? Second living room?”

“maybe a couple “home office” rooms, someplace to have a little space that isn’t shared with a bunch of other people,” Reaper said with a tap of the paper.

“oh, we were kind of hoping for a library,” Cider admitted softly.

“No reason we can’t have both. We just outline this space for those rooms here,” Connie drew an outline on the ground floor, then moved back to the second floor and drew the same outline around the new room. “What we can do is either just make this room that big, which seems a bit excessive even if we did add in that walk in closet, or we can have the roof of the ground floor become a balcony. Instead of this window we put in some French doors.”

“OOOOOOH! THAT SOUNDS LOVELY.”

“While we’re at it we can add a little balcony to your room, if you want.”

“THAT SOUNDS DELIGHTFUL, LET’S DO THAT.”

Connie jotted down some notes. “I think balconies make a really nice addition to any house, whether it’s only big enough for one chair or a whole patio set.”

“sounds like a great place for a couple telescopes.”

“Telescopes, huh? You’ll only be able to see about half the sky that way, it wouldn’t be hard to just make a nice little viewing platform on the roof.”

“OH! THAT REMINDS ME, I WAS HOPING WE COULD ADD IN AN ATTIC STORAGE SPACE SINCE WE HAVE ACQUIRED SO MUCH EXTRA FURNITURE.”

“bro, we can just leave it all in the save screen, it’s fine there.”

“I WILL NOT BE IRRESPONSIBLE AND HAVE YOU LEAVE THINGS JUST LAYING AROUND ALL OVER THE SAVE SCREEN, EVEN IF IT IS A WEIRD PLACE OUTSIDE THE NATURAL ORDER OF THE WORLD.”

That was a lot of stuff. Fortunately Respite didn’t know about most of the date spots Reaper had set up, he wasn’t going to keep a bunch of backdrops and fake beaches in the attic thankyouverymuch. “we don’t need a second sofa, bro. whether it sits in an attic and molds or sits in the save screen and is actually useful for the other people that stop by sometimes doesn’t really make a difference.”

“OF THE FEW PEOPLE THAT EVER EVEN GO TO THE SAVE SCREEN MOST ARE JUST AS CAPABLE OF VISITING YOUR DATEMATES HERE, I DOUBT ANYONE IS GOING TO GO HANG OUT IN THE SAVE SCREEN AT ALL WITHOUT THEM THERE.”

“If I may interrupt,” Connie said loudly before Reaper could argue back. She had her hands folded in front of her and a suspicious glint in her eyes, “So it sounds like you’re trying to combine two households without just throwing out all the extra furniture. To do that you’re going to need space, and lots of it.” Without warning she swept the papers, and their weights, off the table. She then unrolled a huge piece of paper in their place, “How about we just tear this old thing down and make something better!”

Respite, who had dived to catch the salt shaker while the others simply used magic, sputtered in shock from the kitchen floor. “YOU BUILT THIS HOUSE! AND NOT EVEN A WHOLE DECADE AGO!”

“And I’ve learned more in that not-even-a-decade than I had in centuries before that. Those plans? Pfffffft! An amateur’s attempt at modern architecture. This new house will be bigger. Grander! A house befitting gods of your esteemed stature.” She drew confident, perfectly straight lines across the paper as she spoke.

“THIS HOUSE IS ALREADY APPROPRIATELY SIZED FOR MY STATURE, I DON’T HAVE TO DUCK FOR A SINGLE ONE OF THE DOOR FRAMES!” Respite said cheerfully as he got back into his seat. “ALTHOUGH WE SHOULD PROBABLY LOWER THE COUNTERS FOR GENO’S AND CIDER’S SAKES.”

The twins huffed, it seemed not even being a Papyrus didn’t save Respite from their height complex. How adorable.♥ Geno leaned on the table, “can we make the kitchen bigger?”

“Definitely!” Connie grinned at Geno, “How big do you want it?”

“got a tape measure?”

Connie pulled one out of her inventory and tossed it to Geno, he and Cider vanished. “So if you want a guest room you must have guests. How many people are we talking here? Host a lot of get-togethers?”

“not really,” Reaper said, “not a lot of people want to hang out with the gods of death.”

Respite scoffed, “YOU MAY NOT HAVE MANY FRIENDS, BUT MY FRIEND COUNT IS STEADILY GROWING. AND I KNOW YOUR DATEMATES HAVE MANAGED TO ACQUIRE A FEW FRIENDS DESPITE THEIR UNTIL RECENT LOCATIONAL HANDICAP. I’M SURE THEIR FRIENDS WILL WANT TO COME OVER FOR SOCIAL EVENTS.” Respite gasped in delight, “WE CAN THROW A HOUSE WARMING PARTY AFTER THE NEW ONE’S BUILT!”

“what?”

“Oh! That’s always fun,” Connie pointed at Respite with her pencil, her buck teeth on prominent display with her wide grin.

“AND YOU’LL BE INVITED TOO, OF COURSE. I’LL INVITE WAR AND KNOWLEDGE, YOU CAN INVITE LIFE, GENO AND CIDER CAN INVITE THEIR WEIRD SAVE SCREEN FRIENDS. OH! DO YOU THINK IF I INVITE KNOWLEDGE’S FRIENDS AS WELL THEY’D COME TOO?”

The twins came back then and rattled off some measurements to Connie. Reaper just leaned back in his chair and watched the chaos unfold. Looked like they were getting a new house.

* * *

Reaper leaned back in the lawn chair that up until about 10 minutes ago had been sitting on the fake beach he’d made for Geno a while ago. Sitting between his legs with his own head on Reaper’s chest was Cider, they both settled in with a sigh and a groan. On their left Geno had collapsed into the lawn chair’s mate, giving a sigh and a groan of his own. The three of them had just moved every last item and scrap of furniture from the house into the Save Screen. And what’s more they had watched Respite clean the now empty house from top to bottom. It boggled the mind! They were about to tear it down, why clean it?

“oh good, they haven’t started yet.”

Reaper started at suddenly hearing the glitchy voice right next to him. Error had just arrived, the strange portals he used to get between universes still closing behind him.

“they’re about to start, you almost missed the action,” Geno said accusingly.

“time doesn’t work in the anti-void,” Error shot back grumpily.

“it doesn’t work in the save screen either, but you never saw me using that shoddy excuse.”

“Who’s ready to TEAR THIS HOUSE TO SHREDS?!” War yelled gleefully.

“wHat?! i don’t need any hELp destroying something!”

War whipped around to glower at Error, hands on hips, a spear still gripped in one. Her good eye narrowed once she recognized him, “What the hell are YOU doing here?”

“buzz off, i was invited,” Error grumped right back.

“no you weren’t,” Geno cut in before the fight could escalate further.

“eXcuSE yOu?!?!”

“all we did was let you know about the remodel plans, you came here on your own,” Cider clarified.

“you told me they’re destroying something, that’s as good as an invitation.”

“he’s got a point,” Reaper said.

The twins just shrugged and made “eh” sounds.

War’s eyebrow twitched, “Yeah, well… fine! You can help. But we called dibs already so you can’t hog all the destruction. And you had better stop at just the house.”

Error crossed his arms and made a dismissive sound, but didn’t argue further.

“Alright!” War continued loudly, “Everyone not helping destroy this sorry excuse for a house clear?!”

“WAR! THIS IS NOT A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HOUSE! CONNIE WORKED VERY HARD TO MAKE US THE EXACT HOUSE WE ASKED FOR.”

“Geronimo!” War held her spear high as she lunged for the house.

Respite’s indignant scolding was buried under the earth shaking sound of spears, bones, and flurry of strings digging into wood, plaster, and concrete. Connie and a few gods she’d brought along with her all stood back to watch, munching on the buffet of snacks Cider and Geno had carefully laid out that morning. The group watched as not only the house but also a large swath of the surrounding forest were torn up and cleared out.

Once the house was gone, War standing in the midst of what was left of the rubble laughing, it was time for the changing of the guard. War, Respite, and Error all moved over to the snack table while Connie and her friends headed for the newly cleared out area.

“Let’s get to it,” Connie said cheerfully, rolling up the sleeves of her coveralls.

War leaned down to smooch Knowledge, who Reaper somehow hadn’t noticed standing on the far side of the snack table until now. Respite was brushing his clothes off, having opted to wear his jogging outfit. Error immediately started shoving food into his face while pointedly ignoring the others.

Together the group watched as the house went up, first the supports, then the walls, then well… it became a bit harder to see what was going on because there were walls in the way. Shortly after the walls went up was when Error made a noise of disgust and left, leaving behind a destroyed snack table. The sounds of frantic construction continued long enough for Cider to start dozing.

“Tada!” Connie announced as she walked out the front door, followed by her posse.

Everyone applauded.

“Thank you!” Connie took a bow, her friends watched on with bemused smiles.

“AND NOW WE GET TO START ON THE FUN OF PUTTING ALL OUR THINGS BACK IN OUR NEW HOUSE!”

Reaper groaned, chorused by the twins. “bro, we already moved everything once today,” Reaper whined.

“THEN YOU HAD EXCELLENT PRACTICE FOR MOVING IT ALL AGAIN! DON’T WORRY, I WON’T MAKE YOU HELP ME ARRANGE IT AS WELL.”

Reaper made a sound of protest, but he also started trying to sit up. Made difficult by the sulking pile of bones in his lap. “cider, darling, sweetheart, one of the two loves of my eternal life… we need to get up.”

“don’t wanna.”

“if you want to sleep in a real bed tonight we have to move it into the bedroom first.”

“If it makes you whiny BABIES feel better I’ll help you move it!” War declared while flexing.

“YOU CAN HELP ME ARRANGE EVERYTHING ONCE WE BRING IT OVER. I’M NOT SURE IF YOU CAN GET TO THE SAVE SCREEN, THERE’S NOT A WHOLE LOT OF WARRING GOING ON THERE. OR ANY, REALLY.”

“Sure, makes sense. And then when we’re done we can throw you a KILLER house warming party!!!”

“OH NO, WE’LL BE DOING THAT TOMORROW. REAPER’S DATEMATES INSIST ON BREAKING IN THEIR NEW KITCHEN BY COOKING EVERYTHING THEMSELVES, AND YOU KNOW HOW MORTALS COOK.”

“hey!” Geno and Cider both protested.

“He means it takes you guys longer,” War said with a guffaw.

The twins both made faces at War. Reaper sneakily took a photo of them. Or three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Montage! Montage! Time for a house destroying montage! I know there have been a lot in this one, but we’re slowing back down after this. For some reason the story insisted on upgrading the Death bros’ house and try as hard as I can I just can’t fight the story, you know? It will do what it wants.  
>   
> And now for a little worldbuilding that won’t really be relevant to the story itself because it’s about Error. He’s the original Geno, the one from the actual Aftertale comic. That means the Geno we focus on (and certainly not Cider, but that should be pretty obvious) didn’t live through those exact events. So yeah, if I ever go into what Geno’s life was like before he met Reaper I can go as off the rails as I want, isn’t it great?


	3. The Warmest of Houses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Death household hosts a killer house warming party.

Reaper was lounging in a corner of their brand new kitchen, well above the floor and out of the way of his datemates♥ as they bustled about the kitchen. And if that happened to put him within easy reach of all the cookies still out on cooling racks… well, it’s not like he’s been scolded for it yet. Geno was following along some sort of video tutorial, a pair of wireless headphones over his ear holes as he squinted at his phone screen in concentration. Cider was reading out of a cookbook, also squinting. Huh. Maybe Reaper should take them to see an eye doctor.

The doorbell rang, both twins jumped and cursed lightly. “they’re already here?” Geno asked in a mild panic.

“relax,” Reaper said even as he drifted over the counter between the kitchen and living room, it’s probably just the **first** guest, and most everything’s done already.”

“WAR! KNOWLEDGE! SO GOOD OF YOU TO COME!”

“see? just war and knowledge,” Reaper reassured, secure in the knowledge they had nothing to worry about.

“the dips aren’t done yet and we still have to plate half of this up!” Cider warbled in a panic.

“hey now, it’s okay,” Reaper said as he reached out for his darlings, “war’s always early to everything. i think she thinks she has to help set up??? and respite’s going to take them on a tour anyway, we still have some time.” That helped, but both looked on the verge of sliding right back into Panicville, population 2. “how about i help get the stuff that’s ready out while you two finish these up?”

“start with the drinks,” Geno ordered sharply. “snacks can be a little late if everyone has a drink.”

“great idea,” Reaper replied cheerfully. While the twins got back to their preparations Reaper shortcut the three feet over to the fridge and pulled out the various MTT brand soda cans, spider cider bottles, and even several sea teas Geno had insisted Reaper go buy for the party. It seemed he didn’t want any punch bowls, which honestly: fair.

The two mismatched dinner tables had been put end to end in the living room just for this event. Reaper laid out all the drinks, the residual cold magic of the fridge would keep them chilled until well, well past the party, so clunky containers of ice weren’t on the supply list. Then as promised he grabbed plates and started piling cookies onto them, then after those he started plating up the various finger foods his datemates♥ had made. Most were the same recipes as their last picnic (oh! Reaper could totally take his datemates on a real picnic, he was so going to do that♥). By then the doorbell rang again. Respite was still upstairs so Reaper had to answer it this time.

“Hello,” a rather familiar lion said from the doorstep.

“hey, josh. c’mon in.” Reaper let the carpenter in, along with everyone else who’d worked on the house. “connie, mario, electra, thank you all for coming.”

“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Connie said eagerly. “Oh! Are those snacks?”

“yup,” Reaper said proudly as he followed the small group over to the tables. “cider and geno should be finishing up with the chips and dip soon, and then we’re all set to go.”

“Speaking of,” Connie motioned for Reaper to follow her across the living room, back to the entryway where they were pretty far from both the snack tables and the kitchen. “They must be really young gods to not even know who anyone is yet, you cradle robber, you.”

“uh…” Reaper had absolutely no idea how to react to that.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to judge. I know a lot of new gods have popped up since this whole multi-verse mess started, I’m just surprised no one’s talking about them yet, you’d think new Death gods would be all over the gossip.”

“they’re not,” Reaper said weakly.

“Oh? I guess I just assumed with their eyes,” Connie shook her head, “Never mind. I suppose what they’re gods of doesn’t really matter.”

“they’re not gods,” Reaper corrected a bit more strongly this time.

“Oh.” Connie’s mouth made a strange O with her buck teeth in the middle of it. “I suppose they’re guardians or something… right? They’re not mortals???”

“connie, i’m the embodiment of death, mortals don’t survive my touch.”

“Right, right. Well anyway, I said I’m not here to judge. They’re adults right? Good, that’s good. I hope the three of you are happy together.” Connie gave him a quick clap on the back, flinched, then went to go join the others milling around the snack table.

Reaper was stunned, he knew the twins weren’t exactly mortal anymore, but to be mistaken for gods? That was really, really weird.

Boots stomping down the stairs shook Reaper from his reverie. Geno and Cider were bringing out the chips (store bought) and dips (homemade), and the doorbell rang again. Reaper was right there, so he really didn’t have an excuse not to open it. Gossip and Rumor stood on the doorstep.

“Like, omigod! Are you really having a party?!”

“Thank you for like, inviting us and stuff.” Both gods giggled as Reaper motioned them in.

“snacks right over there, along with the build crew.”

“Snacks? That’s like, wicked cool.”

Reaper barely got the door closed before there was another knock. Looked like he was going to be stuck on door duty until the stream of guests died down. This time it was Error, he just barged past Reaper, shoved something shoddily wrapped at Cider, then headed straight for the snack table. Reaper hoped he doesn’t clean this one out like he did yesterday’s, everyone deserved to taste his datemates’ amazing cooking.

Respite happily took Gossip and Rumor on a tour, Error and the twins trailing after him at a slower pace. The doorbell rang again.

“HELLO!” Blue greeted excitedly, Ink and Dream standing on either side while Stretch hovered behind his shoulder.

“hey,” Reaper said back as he stepped far, far to the side to let the group in. Blue and Stretch were both mortals after all.

“WE COME BEARING GIFTS!” Blue announced enthusiastically, holding up a stack of four boxes wrapped in brightly colored paper. Dream held up a shiny paper gift bag with cheerful yellow tissue paper sticking out. Ink just grinned at them with empty hands.

“Ink apologizes for forgetting his gift,” Dream said in embarrassment.

“I’ll paint you a portrait or something.”

“it’s fine. though a portrait does sound pretty cool.” Reaper motioned to the two coffee tables, also pushed off to the side of the room. “go ahead and just leave them there, snacks are over there. right now geno and cider ar-”

“ERROR!!!”

Reaper and Dream all startled at Blue’s excited shout. He was waving up at the second floor, where Error was leaning against the railing to look down at the other guests. “no fighting inside the house,” Reaper reminded them all.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to start anything,” Dream promised.

Blue bounced in place as he continued to wave eagerly up at Error, a bright grin on his face. Error rolled his eyes and finally raised a hand to wave back.

Cider and Geno waved down at their guests as well, then motioned for Error to follow them further into the house. Blue was already excitedly bouncing over to the snack table where the other guests had gathered and started introducing himself. The doorbell rang again, so Reaper went to answer it.

“You did not ask who is there,” Life accused with a wide grin.

“you didn’t say knock knock,” Reaper shot back as he let her in.

She held up a basket overflowing with fruits and vegetables, likely picked fresh from her garden. “I wanted to thank you and your brother for your kind gifts, and also give you a little something to warm your new home.”

“those look like they need to be chilled rather than warmed.”

“Only until one of your two datemates decides to bake them into something.”

“yeah, aren’t they the best?♥ oh, here, we should probably put them in the kitchen.”

“That does sound like the best place for these.”

The other gods present all stared as Reaper led Life into the kitchen, and like the lady she was Life ignored them. “so here’s the kitchen, you can just leave them on the island.”

Life set the fruit basket down, then went prowling about the kitchen. “It is lovely, so modern!”

“yeah, i may have gone overboard on buying kitchen gadgets for geno back when i first found out he liked baking. heh, most of it’s from outertale since they have the most advanced technology.”

“I would not have guessed,” Life said with a smirk as she ran a hand over the face of the star themed microwave.

“only the best for my datemates.♥”

She took another quick stroll around the kitchen, then spun to face Reaper, “Well this has certainly been a nice start to the tour, will you show me the rest of the house now?”

“uuuuuuuuuuh… ok.” Reaper supposed it made sense, Respite would happily show her around but of everyone here she was really only Reaper’s friend. And in all honesty Reaper was glad for a chance to get away from the growing crowd. “so this is the dining room and through that door is the backyard, it’s really just a deck so far. we might put in a pool since we can’t really do any landscaping. respite did suggest doing one of those rock gardens.”

“Is that a hammock I see?”

“oh yeah, and that. it’s pretty nice for napping, i’m sure it’ll only be improved by sunlight.”

“You know I have been meaning to get one myself, I have more than enough trees for one.”

“i can vouch for one made of canvas, the ones made of netting less so. anyway, through here is the uh… well connie called it the “family room” but really it seems to just be a smaller living room with a fireplace,” Reaper continued as he led her around the ground floor. He even showed her the laundry room! Then up to the second floor where, like the glitches before them, they stopped to look into the living room below.

“It is an interesting choice,” Life commented.

“connie said vaulted ceilings are in, though i think she just really wanted a slanted ceiling.” Reaper motioned to where the living room ceiling sloped up towards them.

“It sounds as though you gave her plenty of free reign on the plans.”

Reaper shrugged, “she knows more about architecture than any of us.” Reaper continued the tour, pointing out Papyrus’s rooms, poked their heads into the guest room, and led her through the mostly empty library and even out onto the still empty balcony it opened onto. They nearly had an accident on the stairs, fortunately they heard Respite’s, Gossip’s, and Rumor’s loud voices as they went down the stairs, the two groups waved in passing.

Up on the third floor Reaper took her through the master suite, including the huge bathroom Connie and Mario had worked so hard on for his darling datemates.♥ The other rooms on the floor were the three “home offices” for the trio to split among them. “i have a feeling cider and geno are going to share their rooms, but at least they’ll still have two rooms so when they want to be alone they don’t have to be in the same room.”

“It is good to have a little space all to yourself, I am sure the three of you will appreciate the extra rooms when you need them.”

“you think so? i think i’ll be too busy to use mine much, but geno and cider insisted that if i didn’t have one then they wouldn’t either.”

“They both care about you very much.”

“yeah, they really do.♥ i care about them too.”

“Just a little,” Life teased while looking around the house he had built just for them.

“only enough that i’d do just about anything for them.♥ oh, you wanna see the stargazing platform on the roof?”

“Of course, I demand nothing but a complete tour.”

“you know why you can’t trust stairs?”

“No, why can I not trust stairs?”

“because they’re always up to something.” They both laughed as they climbed up the final flight of stairs. Out on the roof he showed her the two lawn chairs (previously on the sidelines while Connie and her friends built the house, and previously previously sitting on a fake beach in the Save Screen) and talked about how they wanted to get more lawn furniture up here and some telescopes to be kept somewhere safer than the roof.

“I cannot help but notice the sheer number of porches, decks, and balconies this house has.

“they were all connie’s suggestions.”

“And yet you approved them.”

“what can i say? after living under a mountain their whole lives geno and cider were excited about spending as much time out in the sun as possible.”

“Have you taken them stargazing yet?”

“the very first night after they recovered we sat on the roof of the old house and watched the sun set and the stars come out.”

“How wonderful! Dear boys deserve to be happy after all they have been through.”

“i’m doing my best to make it happen.” They both smiled and lapsed into silence, leaning against the rail and looking out over the dead forest that in the distance gave way to living trees swathing mountain sides. “so, shall we go back down to the party?”

“Yes, I am looking forward to sampling your datemates’ cooking.”

Reaper pulled them through a shortcut into the kitchen. A few more gods and mortals had arrived, enough guests that they had actually spilled out into the dining room so they could all chat in small clumps. Life and Reaper hung back a little, leaning on the counter that divided the kitchen and living room as they just watched the others mingle. Papyrus seemed to be gathering another group for a tour, Geno was chatting with Edge, and Cider was chatting with Dream, Connie, and Electra.

“so how did you make them immortal,” Reaper finally asked.

“A lady does not share her secrets,” Life replied with a wink.

“fair enough. i just can’t help being curious, their timers are still there but they aren’t counting down to anything.”

“So their timers are stopped?”

“no, they’re…” Reaper never knew how to describe the timers to anyone else, they weren’t actually visible, not like souls or the bodies around them, he “saw” them through magic. How do you describe how scent looks to someone unable to smell or taste? “let’s say they look like egg timers.”

Life tittered, then composed herself, “Go on.”

“well…” his eyes drifted over the crowd. “take the stars for example,” Reaper said as he pointed out Dream. “dream never had a timer, apparently being a guardian is a lot like being a god. ink’s timer… hey, where is ink?” They both looked around, but neither of them spotted him anywhere among the other guests. “welp, either there was some au emergency or we’re going to find a few murals around the house. anyway, his timer was never finished so it never started. blue’s timer,” he pointed at where Blue was hanging out with Sci and Red, the three of them seemed to be giggling, “is just fine, ticking steadily away, driven by the weight of his own mortality like a swinging pendulum.”

“An egg timer with a pendulum,” Life asked with a grin.

“shush, it’s all time anyway. and error over there,” Reaper pointed to where Error was methodically tearing up napkins, “his timer has come loose. it’s just kind of spinning freely and uh… uneven i guess? it’s got a wobble?”

“Like a spinning arrow for a children’s board game?”

“yeah, that works. but cider and geno have regular looking egg timers that are ticking away but they don’t have any weight to them, not like blue or sci over there. it’s like… it’s like an egg timer that has already gone past where it should have stopped but it just kept going.”

“And what does an Amalgamate’s timer look like?”

“like someone jammed a bunch of egg timers through each other and they’re all still running anyway, but them all occupying the same space seems to have turned them into some kind of perpetual… oh.”

“Have you considered that their current state is not entirely my doing?”

“they both shot themselves full of enough dt to start melting them even without dying.” Even Undyne didn’t have that much DT, not melting until she was already dying. “but for undyne the timer didn’t just keep going, it slowed way down while she was fighting.”

“Your datemates are not Undyne, it stands to reason that such a unique case would result in a unique change to their egg timers.”

“you said not entirely your doing, does that mean you did do something?”

“Well, I am not saying I did, but I will point out that I have created immortal life before.”

“thanks for not bringing mercy, by the way.”

“They are sad, but they understand your concerns. Also I promised to bring them back some treats.”

“sure, how about we put together a little goodie baggie? i’m pretty sure either error or jerry will clean out any left overs by the end of the party.”

“What? Jerry?” Life stood rigid and looked around frantically. “When did he get here?”

“no idea, but you know how jerry is: he just shows up. uninvited.”

“Mmmm… let us go ahead and put together that baggie for Mercy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does Blue have a bottle of hard whiskey in his inventory? Of course not! How dare you even suggest such a thing! (It's a bottle of vodka since he wasn't sure what kind of drinks would be out. He's a little disappointed he didn't get to use it, but he's very proud Geno learned from the past).


End file.
